Lostlily

My daughter is an Australian citizen, she is applying for a partner visa for her spouse. The family live in the UK.

Can anyone please advise, if she applies for citizenship for her two children, both under 10.

Do they need to have medicals or is it just pretty straightforward.

Thanks to all 

Yes all of our assets are in Australia, the executor is in Australia, but several beneficiaries are in the UK.

Everyone has been helpful, I have read the links.

My confusion arises from previous information.

A couple of years ago, we considered buying a modest property in the UK to use for part of the year, but in the end we backed out because we were told by our old accountant there and from our own research that if you are from the UK, spend more than 3 months a year there and/or have a rental or purchased property available for your use you will be considered domiciled in the UK. Then all of your worldwide assets are treated as taxable in the UK.

The other thing is that although tree is no IHT in Australia, assuming we were still domiciled here. Apart from certain exclusions CGT appears to be payable when the assets are sold, so I assume that this is deducted from the estate before money is divided up?

Thanks for your help, but as far as I can work out, this site really only relates to the UK. I have been going round and round in circles trying to establish the legal requirements of beneficiaries in the UK from Australia.

I have never been very happy consulting "tax experts" unless I understand the rules myself. It seems very unclear to me......

Thank you will do

Thank you both for your encouraging answers, do either of you guys have any link so I can confirm this information?

Hi everyone,

I am hoping that someone can help me here. I am usually pretty savvy on financial issues, but am stuck on this one.

My husband and I have been living in Australia for 18 years. We have dual UK/Aus Citizenship.

As we are getting on a bit, we are wondering about inheritance tax for people included in our will in the UK.

I know there is no IHT in Australia, but on reading up on this recently, CGT seems to almost be a replacement for it?

But my main query is in regard to portions of our estate left to people in the UK. Will they be liable to UK IHT or CGT.

We have some family here, one daughter who will be the executor of our will and I don't want to leave her with a lot of unnecessary red tape.

We dd think of buying a small property in the UK for holidays etc, but it got so very complicated as then we would be domiciled back in the UK for tax purposes.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thank You.

You didn't need 90% of that stuff. If you've got a marriage certificate you don't need any other proof of your relationship. Then the only other thing you need to submit is proof that you meet the financial requirement - which you're doing with your new job.

 

Then he goes for his biometric interview and then it's about three or four weeks wait.

 

The only thing you don't mention is Appendix 2. Did you submit that, because if you didn't, it may be rejected.

Hi Marisa, I have not been on this page for some time, but I do remember your posts about how much you were looking forward to returning home. Could I take the liberty of asking how it went and why you have decided to come back to Australia?

Absolutely - in fact that's what you'd have to do, to establish that you have a "domicile". That's the point I was missing - I was assuming that if the UK decided you were domiciled there, Australia would treat you as not domiciled, or vice versa. But as far as I can ascertain, that's not the case at all - it's perfectly possible for both countries to decide you are domiciled, if you have a "domicile" in both places.

Hi Marisa,

Have just been googling and came up with this page from so called"Experts" who state you can only have one domicile at a time. The plot thickens.....http://www.ukexpat.net/tax-information-topics.php

Absolutely - in fact that's what you'd have to do, to establish that you have a "domicile". That's the point I was missing - I was assuming that if the UK decided you were domiciled there, Australia would treat you as not domiciled, or vice versa. But as far as I can ascertain, that's not the case at all - it's perfectly possible for both countries to decide you are domiciled, if you have a "domicile" in both places.

That is interesting, I didn't realise that. I have been thinking and thinking. My latest idea is to help my English daughter out with some money to move to a larger house, at the moment she is considering extending her mortgage to make a loft conversion and perhaps build a garden room for extra accommodation for when any of us come over. But I know she would prefer to move to a larger house, so why not give her part of her inheritance early?

It would all be in their names of course and would solve a lot of problems as if we bought a property, apart from the expense it would be empty for 1/2 the year etc.

We did try to do this a couple of years ago, but unfortunately we were led astray as the house had massive subsidence problems and it was very traumatic. But I think we are all over the shock of that now.

This could be the answer for us and I need to get off my butt and find something positive to occupy my time while I am here too.

Thanks for your help Marissa and good luck with your plans

You are absolutely right, yes it is. But the point is, you can be domiciled in the UK, it doesn't mean you're NOT domiciled in Australia. You can be domiciled in two countries at the same time.

 

Also, you can't get taxed twice. So if you're also resident in Australia - which you would be, if you have a house here and spend six months of each year in it - then you'll pay tax on your Australian investments in Australia exactly as you do now. Then when you fill in your British tax return, you list your Australian investments but you also list the tax you've already paid to Australia. So the UK won't tax you again because of the double taxation agreement.

 

I suspect your tax advisers have worked out your tax liability based on you becoming non-resident in Australia. Non-residents get crucified for tax. If you keep a home and a car in Australia (the car is important for some reason!), and spend six months here every year, then it's unlikely you would lose your residency status.

Thank you Marissa, this is very helpful information which may help us with our dilemma

But do you know if this rule would still apply if we bought a small property in England???

I can't quite follow what the links mean. I've been doing my research too and have concluded it's not as bad as I thought. The only snag is my Australian property, so I'm going to sell that and wear the CGT. The Australian pension is still an issue but we're unlikely to be eligible to collect it (due to means-testing) till we're in our seventies, so we're going to worry about it then.

 

Actually it may well work for you to spend six months in each country after all - because if you have a home in each country, you'll count as resident in both countries. I didn't realise that was possible, but it is. It means you'll have to submit a tax return in both countries, but that's a small inconvenience. The benefit is that you'll avoid all the nasty tax rates that Australia charges non-residents. Your Australian properties will be taxed exactly as they are now. You'll declare those properties on your UK tax return but you'll also show the tax you've paid to Australia so you're unlikely to be taxed twice.

How did you come by that information i.e. the 6 months thingy? All I keep coming up with is that if you spend 3 months pa over 4 consecutive years you are domiciled and resident in the UK. Therefore all your worldwide income is taxed there....Especially if you buy or lease a property there. I am getting very confused about all of this, would love some help if anyone knows more

Hopefully this link will work better, it is very interesting http://calculators.ato.gov.au/scripts/axos/axos.asp?CONTEXT=&KBS=residency_leaving.XR4

You know, there comes a point in life when you have to stop saving your money for your old age, because your old age has arrived and therefore it's time to start spending some of it. Otherwise you're going to die miserable, with a million dollars in the bank. How much are your investment properties worth? Have you ever sat down and worked out how much money you have in assets and bank accounts, and whether it's enough to see you out? Perhaps it's time to sell one of the properties, or remortgage it to give you some money to enjoy your life before it's gone. I know it's hard to change your attitude - I also grew up with that frugal attitude of saving, saving, saving, and am just about managing to get used to the idea that it's OK to spend some of it.

 

I assume your daughter's Aussie husband wouldn't contemplate moving to the UK?

No I don't think he would consider it in a million years lol.

But you have made some good points and I did have a bit of a chat with hubby this morning, he would obviously prefer to stay here. But at least he did listen to what I was saying. I am so scared of making decisions. Particularly as the last one to move over here hasn't turned out too good.

Just to inject a little balance here I would say that retiring anywhere if you have little money is no picnic. Couples going out for a pub lunch with a couple of drinks is generally £30 to £35 all in. We only do that half dozen times per year and we are still working. Sure you can do walks but unless you do the same walks it will involve a drive. Running a car costs £0,000's even if it is sitting on your drive most of the time. Yes there are lovely National Trust houses (and membership is good value) and you may have a handful within a 30 minute drive or so but once you have seen those it is a full day out buying petrol, lunch etc. Many retirees in the UK spend much of their disposable income keeping warm. If you have not lived in UK for a long time you may be shocked at how much people spend on just keeping warm. Most people as they get older feel the cold more than the young and it can be cold enough to need heating at any time from mid September to mid June and our heating is on every day for at least 6 months of the year.

 

I am sure that the UK can be a great place to retire in but you need some serious money behind you IMO. A winter getaway would be a must for me to break up the long winter and that is not as cheap as it once was.

 

I can see that there are minuses in Oz too and I certainly have no intention of belittling those as they are real experiences for some but I sense that those who have not lived in Britain since they were young may not be able to imagine the reality of daily life here in retirement on a low or modest income.

Yes I agree, heating would be a major expense. I need to sit down and do some realistic budgeting and talk nicely to my husband as well

Just because you've lived somewhere for a long time doesn't make it home. Twenty nine years my partner has been in Australia and it's not home to him never will be. He and i would go back tonight if our circumstances allowed it. Home is for some where your heart is.

Well Well, I do not consider that Australia has "given me a nice standard of living" I have been totally self sufficient, even taking over a business that employed about 10 Australians! That certainly did not improve my mental health!

I was astounded at the lazy (laid back??) attitude of these people, I was always ready to "get up and go" for opportunities, but they were lazy, stubborn and racist towards me. Now let me explain, I am not a bossy type of boss and was more than generous to them, but they are a different species of people than I had been used to dealing with in England. Where we also had a business and 99% of our ex staff are still some of our best friends.

They have all had it too bloody easy here and their attitudes stunk!

We have never taken a singe cent from the Australian government, that is not our way (although I have no problem with the genuinely needy getting this)

We have worked our butts off since we arrived. I can now see why the government are crying out for immigrants, as they have a totally different work ethic to most Australians. You would not believe how many I have met who are on compo, for pathetic reasons.

They are a different species, I would like to change the label "laid back" to downright lazy! Obviously I am not tarring every Australian with the same brush, but I was working in a semi rural area, which did contain a lot of freaky people. They made my life such a misery, due mainly to their own feelings of inferiority as most of them had never clawed their way out of the little holes they were brought up in and considered anyone else as a personal threat.

This may work better?

• Accessibility Languages Legal Database Tax topics A-Z
  About ATO
   
  This doesn't make a lot of sense, will try again later
  

• 
  In Individuals
  Advanced Search
  

• 
  
  
  [*=center]

  Home

   

  
  

  
  [*=center]Individuals
  [*=center]Business
  [*=center]Non-profit
  [*=center]Super
  [*=center]Tax professionals
  

   

   

   

   

   

  • Tax file numberActivate sub menu
    
  • Income and deductionsActivate sub menu
    
  • Lodge your tax returnActivate sub menu
    
  • Make a paymentActivate sub menu
    
  • SuperActivate sub menu
    
  • Your situationActivate sub menu
    
  • Tax topics A-ZActivate sub menu
    

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Activate print options

• 
  
  • Home
  • Individuals>
    
  • International tax for individuals>
    
  • Going overseas
    

   

   

   

   

   

  [*]International tax for individuals

   

• 
  
  • 
    Work out your tax residency
  • 
    Coming to Australia
    
  • 
    Going overseas
    
    • 
      When you leave Australia
    • 
      Working overseas
      

     

     

    [*]

    Investing in Australia

    [*]

    Investing overseas

     

   

   

   

   

  [*]In detail

   

  • 
    Applying for a TFN - required documentation
    
  • 
    Australian income of foreign residents
    
  • 
    Capital gains
    
  • 
    Foreign income of Australian residents
    
  • 
    International agreements
    
  • 
    Other languages
    
  • 
    Residency
    
  • 
    Super
    

   

   

   

   

  [*]

   

  • Previous years
    

   

   

   

   

   

• When you leave Australia
   
  If you have been living in Australia, you intend leaving Australia soon, or you have recently left Australia, there are things you need to do to get your tax affairs in order.
  Will your tax residency change?
  If you remain an Australian resident, you must lodge an Australian tax return and declare your worldwide income - both assessable income and exempt foreign employment income - even if tax was taken out in the country where you earned the income. If your residency status changes there will be a number of changes in your tax situation.
  Lodging your tax return early
  If you are leaving Australia permanently and will leave before the end of the income year (30 June), you may be able to lodge your tax return early.
  Lodging your tax return from outside Australia
  If you will continue to be an Australian resident while travelling overseas, you should lodge your tax return during the normal lodgment period (1 July to 31 October). The easiest way to lodge from overseas is online using e-tax.
  Capital gains on your assets
  If you leave your home in Australia temporarily you may be able to continue to treat it as your main residence for up to six years for capital gains tax purposes. If you cease to be an Australian resident, you may become liable to pay capital gains tax on some of your assets.
  Private health insurance and the Medicare levy surcharge
  If you cancel your private health insurance while travelling overseas, you may be liable for the Medicare levy surcharge if your income exceeds the relevant threshold.
  Higher education loans
  If you have a higher education loan debt it will continue to be indexed each year. You can still make voluntary repayments from overseas.
  Departing Australia superannuation payment
  Temporary residents who are leaving Australia permanently may be able to claim their super. New Zealand citizens and permanent residents of Australia are not eligible for this payment.
  End of attention
  
• 
  
  • Higher education loans
  • Will your tax residency change?
    
  • Capital gains on your assets
    
  • Lodging your tax return early
    
  • Private health insurance and the Medicare levy surcharge
    
  • Lodging your tax return from outside Australia
    

   

   

   

   

   

  [*]Last modified: 24 Dec 2013QC 33234

   

• Online services
   
  

  Log on as a: Individual Business BAS Agent Tax Agent Access Manager Super clearing house

  
   
  RegisterSystem maintenance and issuesAccess managerAbout online services
  

   

  
  

• Forms
  
  • Permanent migrants or temporary visitors - online TFN application
  • Certificate of payment
    
  • PAYG foreign resident withholding variation 2014
    
  • TFN - application for individual living outside Australia
    
  • Timor Sea Treaty - Joint Petroleum Development Area instructions 2013-14
    
  • Tax return for individuals 2013-14
    

   

  More forms and instructionsArrow button

   

   

   

   

  Tax rates and codes

   

   

  Calculators and tools

   

   

   

   

   

   

  [*]

   

  • Print publications
    

   

   

   

   

  [*]Getting it right

   

  • Your rights
  • Tax planning
    
  • How we check compliance
    
  • Correct a mistake or dispute a decision
    
  • Tax evasion and crime
    
  • Report tax evasion
    

   

   

   

   

   

  Consultation

   

   

  Law, rulings and policy

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

• 
   
  This doesn't make a lot of sense does it! I will try again later......
  

Family ? well that is the reason we are not willing to just say - stuff it lets go home and leave it in the hands of the Almighty to look after us. We have a daughter and 2 grand kids who have been to hell and back in the family court, she is not even allowed to move suburbs, never mind interstate and O/S LOL well not even worth thinking about. The ex is spitful and vindictive and leaving her on her own is just not something we could do. The other kids are fine, good jobs, nice homes, I think they would be OK but we would still miss them.

Have heard homes in France are quite reasonable - but its not England, Europe is great for a holiday but England well thats home isnt it.

Oh My Goodness, I do remember your story from earlier posts. Completely agree with you about your poor daughter, that is a totally (but not uncommon) situation. How terribly sad

My only thoughts about France were that perhaps as it is so near to England, one could enjoy a nice lifestyle there and believe me it is very cheap to live there too. Added to that, you could get back to the UK very quickly and hopefully your family would visit too. But NO it is not England!

But it does sound as if you have a much better balanced view (emotionally) of letting your kids go than I do. I think I am too emotional and needy.

We haven't done it yet, we've just been researching it. My problems sound so minor compared to yours! My oh had a serious skin cancer scare and is now paranoid about going out in the sun - we haven't gone for a daytime outing since last June, because he won't walk outdoors (or even drive long distances) between 10 am and 4 pm. I don't want to live the rest of my life like a vampire so we need to move somewhere with a lower UV index.

 

We don't have kids and, now that my MIL has passed away, we've got nobody in Oz. I have sisters in the UK, I'm a citizen and my oh has enough money to get a spouse visa. The big snag, as you've found, is tax.

 

Australian tax - We would pay 10% tax on bank deposits - but that could be solved by moving all our money over to the UK. We'd pay 25% tax on our investment property income - no way of avoiding that, unless we sell the property and pay CGT. Luckily we both have our super in industry super funds (if we had a SMSF that would be taxed at 46%).

 

British tax - We're not collecting a pension from our super yet, but when we do, the UK will treat it as income so it will be subject to tax (which it wouldn't be in Australia). Same goes for the Australian government pension, when we ultimately qualify for that.

 

The other snag is that we do expect, one day, to need to draw the Australian pension. We won't be able to do that unless we come back to Australia to claim it - then we'll have to stay for 12 months, otherwise they'll cancel it again. Obviously a one-year temporary relocation would be expensive and we might be in our seventies by then!

 

At one stage we wondered if cheaper living costs in the UK might offset the loss of income - we live in Sydney, so if we went almost anywhere except London or Edinburgh, we'd save a lot of money. However that's only looking at the cost of housing, and it looks like other costs in the UK are as high or higher, so it probably wouldn't be enough.

 

We're reluctantly coming to the conclusion that it's not practical.

Hey Marissa,

I have been doing a bit more research, see my last post

Actually the funny thing is, you pay more tax, not less. I think most people imagine that if you're a "non-resident" of a country, then you don't have to pay tax. But the fact is if you're a non-resident, and you've got investments in that country, you're taxed at a much higher rate than residents are.

I have just been doing a bit more research and I came across this, if it is any help to anyone who is UK expat and wishes to spend some time there....When%20you%20leave%20Australia%20%7C%20Australian%20Taxation%20Office.webarchive

Although this does seem to be very contradictory to the advice on the Inland Revenue page, they just try to grab you by the coat tails as to where your father was born i.e. domicile. Although when I spoke to my UK accountant about this 3 month rule blah blah, he said they simply do not have the resources to follow this up and the only time it comes to their attention is if you purchase a property in your own name in the UK????

Would be interested in advice others have received. I hope this link works, if not please let me know.

Been here 40 years. Was very happy in the beginning, life was full of work and kids, but now things have changes so much and you are right its the country walks the culture, just so many buildings going back hundreds of years, here once it is 50 years old they think of pulling it down. There is a heratage hotel in Melbourne just beautiful, what are they doing ? Sticking a massive glass accomadation tower on top of it LOL the most insane thing I have ever seen. The exchange rate is the other issue, even if we sold our home here in Aus once converted into Pounds we would be hard pushed to buy anything half decent especially in the south west. It just seems to have really hit us in the last 2 years or so that we are well and truly stuck here, and it is really hard to deal with.

I do feel for you, it is so sad. Yeah architecture hah! They don't know the meaning of the word. Here in Perth 30 years seems to be the time to knock your house down, how ridiculous. I am not buying into any of that nonsense. The exchange rate is really bad at the moment, but I guess it could get better? I have been dreaming and researching properties in France, you can pick up some serious bargains there. We were hoping to spend 6 months in Aus and 6 months in uk, but we would get buggered tax wise and don't think we could afford it. So thats why the French idea came up, but that is probably a silly idea as we still wouldn't be near our family and I couldn't bear to leave my daughter here either. If you could retire back to England how would you feel about leaving family here? Just interested in others perspectives really.

You have raised a very interesting topic "retirement" Aus is expencive - very expencive. When you are young, and busy with work and the kids, there always seems plenty of things to do, but once the kids grow up life changes. We are very close to retirement, due to a difficult financial time over the last few years we will have enough to pay off the mortgage and that is about all. Unless you are into fishing, or some form of water sport there is very little to do in Aus once you get to retirment age. Petrol costs a fortune especially as you have to drive so far to visit family or even a large shopping center. No country walks or wandering around the small country village shops or going for sunday lunch at the local put. Something those planning the move to Aus should consider. I would go back tomorrow if it were possible but its not an well we just have to face the fact retirement is going to be financially difficult and pretty boring.

How long have you been here in Australia?

How I miss the lunches at the pub in England. You can still get a massive roast dinner for about 6-7 pounds. Yes and all the beautiful country footpaths and the open gardens and National Trust buildings, I could go on and on. But it just makes me more depressed. I am so sorry for your situation. Yes you are right, when you are younger it all seems like a great adventure, I think for us it was a mid life crisis lol. But things are very different here now and I have many elderly relatives who are lonely etc in England who I would love to visit and give them a hand. I know I could become a volunteer here, but that is not the same as helping your loved ones is it.

Sorry to here your not happy and I have not read all the posts so please forgive me if someone has already commented .Regarding southern Ireland I lived there for ten years as a brit and encountered a bit of hostility.Things are changing very quickly but there is still a lot of people there who will be suspicious of you and others who would be outright rude .In general I found people there are great but just be prepared for remarks about your nationality mainly banter .I had a good 10 years there but the weather does wear you dowwwn hope you find happiness and as they say in Ireland GOOD LUCK

Hello again,

I have just spent 5 weeks on holiday in the UK with my daughter and 2 young grandchildren, who live here. It is the first time she has been back for 6 years and I have to say it was a bittersweet experience. My younger daughter went back 6 years ago and has a beautiful 18 month old.

She instantly felt at home and so happy to meet up with all her friends and our large family. But of course that brought out all the anger and resentment towards me as she says (quite fairly) that I pressured her to move to Australia and now she is in a relationship with an Australian, she is stuck. She is not living the life she envisaged.

I sort of half expected this reaction and she was unsure about going back for a holiday as she said she didn't want to have to deal with all these emotions, but dearly wanted to see her grandparents who are in their late 80's.

I myself instantly felt so happy to be back in England. What a bloody mess! Now I have been back here for 2 weeks and am absolutely loathing it.

We came from a beautiful village in Sussex and it has hardly changed in the 15 years we have been here. There are so many lovely independent shops and heaps of great places to visit.

Yesterday we drove through our nearest town here and even more ugly big buildings are being thrown up, but they will all be the same boring chain stores, no independent shops at all.

I am now getting very depressed, I am so over Australia it is not funny. Now I am semi retired I just don't know what on earth to do with myself. It has got so damn expensive here that we can't even afford to go out for a meal anymore.

Sorry for being a whinging Pom but I guess I just need to vent and I don't want to upset my husband as he has health problems and doesn't need my grief.

I now realise my idea of 6 months in Southern Ireland or France and six months here is a crazy idea as we would want to be near our other daughter.

Still THINKING though !!!

My mum uses them. She knows they don't have all the info about them but I think she's happy to take the risk tbh

I can completely agree with her sentiments as after almost 2 months of vaping I feel like a different person!

I can breathe, I can walk! I am not pissing myself all night!

This is a very serious issue that is being played out by big Pharma, Big Tobacco Companies and the money grabbing government.

All I am saying to potential immigrants that you may be banned from vaping if you arrive in "Nanny State".

I have been one of the unfortunate people who has been addicted to smoking for 47 years!

I started smoking in my early teens, I grew up in London and at that time practically everyone smoked. We used to stop off on the way to school, at a tobacconists and buy one or two cigarettes and that is where it started. By the time I was 15 I was hooked and my Mum even used to give me cigarettes and we smoked together.

She smoked all the way through 3 pregnancies, but by the time I was of childbearing age it was obvious that smoking was dangerous for our babies so I quit by the time I was three months pregnant. It was soooo damn difficult but on reflection I think guilt tided me over. But it was a short term solution and each time I landed back on the ciggies.

Over the years I have tried everything to quit, all the usual NRT's with the exception of Champix as I have always suffered from intermittent periods of depression and constant anxiety attacks, plus at times suicidal thoughts so after researching it, I realised this would be a very dangerous path for me to take.

I had a friend staying with me who was using vaping equipment, Mr 40+ a day smoker and it seemed to help him to cut down at least.

By this time I was totally depleted of energy and spent most of my time in bed or on the sofa, having had to let my business go as well.

This March I hit rock bottom, I had increased my smoking to 35-40 per day, I was coughing so much all night that I became incontinent, this was the final straw for me so I ordered a starter kit from an Australian Vaping Company, with tobacco flavoured cartridges with no nicotine and from day one I was able to cut down my smoking dramatically, but I still craved the nicotine.

I then ordered some better equipment and some e juice with nicotine in from overseas. I really haven't looked back since. Most days I happily just vape I have had the odd roll up on occasion but this is getting less and less.

Then I found out about this hideous case against a retailer of vaping (e cigarette) products called Heavenly Vapours in Western Australia, who was raided by “The Health Department” with the backing would you believe of “The Cancer Council” he won his case in the local magistrates court but it was appealed against in the Supreme Court and he lost the case. He is waiting for sentencing and has set up an appeal to help raise funds. You can google the information if you are interested. There is also a petition on the go.

When I heard about this case, I fell into a state of fear, not just for my own life, but for many others. I have lost precious loved ones to smoking related diseases and I thought, oh here we go again!

So I have been trying everything in my power to support these guys, both financially and by spending many hours each day trying to drum up support for them and to appeal to the Cancer Council.

Vaping is saving my life, I am a completely different person to the sad one I was a while ago, my health and energy are returning and I will do everything in my power to support HV as this is such an important case which simply must be won.

Another thought I have just had and would like to add that I can think of at least a dozen people I know, both friends and family who have given up smoking, basically by cold turkey or with NRT's but all of them have put on massive amounts of weight and are now suffering lots of other associated problems with being obese, such a shame to see.

But amazingly I have actually lost weight, mostly because I have gained back my zest for life and for the first time in years have started taking regular walks and made a decision to cut down dramatically on carbs and sugar, you see I have hope now rather than feeling like I was before "waiting to die" and my Doctor who was a bit cynical when I told her I was vaping is totally astounded and is now quite passionate about finding out the benefits of vaping, additionally she is shocked and dismayed that the Cancer Council and the Health Dept have taken this ridiculous stance. She wanted to know more about it, so I printed off some information from the UK Anti Smoking Lobby ASH, who are embracing this new safer technology

Unfortunately the people who stand to lose most by us quitting smoking through this method are The Big Pharma companies, who wish to sell there totally ineffective Nicotine Replacement Products. Certain Health departments who make huge profits from treating cancer, the Government who are charging extraordinary amounts of taxes on tobacco and of course the big tobacco companies.

They will all do anything they can to discredit vaping as it is ALL ABOUT MONEY!!

Here is the link to the appeal and the petition

Ecigs. Our right not to smoke Tobacco. by Vince van Heerden – GoFundMe

Petition | Legalise the sale of Personal Vaporisers in Western Australia. | Change.org

Hi Lostility, pardon me I have not gone through the next 19 pages so I'm not sure what's been said/ what you may or may not have decided to.

 

However, my question, if I may say so as someone peering through your letterbox (not literally....)

Is this, based on everything you have said. Why is it so difficult to return if you'd love to? Just boil it down to simplicity. Clarity, I've said it before in your case your one of the lucky ones where all you have to do is flick the switch and do it. What is your option, stick another significant amount of unhappy time in gods kitchen? You won't be on your death bed wishing you'd spent more time in Australia. Hurry, life's rushing past and remember only dead fish swim with the current.

Oh My Goodness,

I thought twice about answering your questions......My statements above were posted when I was in a very dark and sad place. I am not not suggesting I have removed myself from there, but it was extreme.....

I still honestly totally regret moving here, but there are other family members to consider and it is not "all about me". I persuaded my grown up daughters very much against their will to come over with us, which was totally selfish, one has gone back and started her own family, but all of us are sad and disjointed. I now realise that the grass is not always greener on the other side. There is no way to fix my dilemma without breaking more hearts, so I have to live with the consequences of my selfishness. As the old saying goes "Be careful what you wish for". Thank you for your concern xx

I guess this is the point I was questioning earlier. We have ONE investment property, enough money in the bank to buy an apartment mortgage-free, and our super (my super is not huge because I didn't arrive in Oz till I was over 30). We've used lots of retirement calculators and we're reasonably confident we've got enough to last our retirement, if we can access a part-pension when we get older. Have you ever sat down and worked out how long your money would last?

 

Remember, you would gradually sell off each of the properties as you needed more money (yes, CGT would be payable but you're paying that tax because you just made a huge profit, so you'll still have plenty money in your pocket). So don't just count the rental income.

 

I know it's not completely relevant as it sounds like you've made up your mind to stay, but I suspect if you add up the sale value of all your properties, you've got more than enough to fund your retirement. So you can't use affordability as another reason not to go.

I see your point. But the overriding reason is not money.